Congo’s top court bars oppn leader Bemba from election

Bloomberg

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s top court disqualified opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba from presidential election because of his International Criminal Court conviction for witness-tampering.
The decision confirms the removal of a second key opponent from the race against President Joseph Kabila’s anointed successor and increases the risk of protests by Bemba’s supporters. It also raises questions about the credibility of the December 23 presidential and parliamentary votes in the cobalt-rich nation, which hasn’t had a peaceful transfer of power since it gained independence from Belgium in 1960.
The Constitutional Court “confirms the ineligibility of Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo for witness-tampering by resorting to corruption,” according to a ruling broadcast on state television in the capital, Kinshasa. The electoral commission, known as CENI, initially excluded Bemba on August 24, a decision that was unsuccessfully appealed by the major opposition party he leads, the Movement for the Liberation of Congo, or MLC.
The court agreed with CENI that witness-tampering is a crime of corruption and therefore bars Bemba from standing for president under Congolese law. The MLC is forming a crisis committee “with other forces of change
to develop a plan of civic actions,” Secretary-General Eve Bazaiba said.